Silent Night & O Holy Night (2.5 years into lessons)

Silent Night & O Holy Night
(2.5 years into lessons)
I started lessons in June 2021 about three weeks before I turned 47! I’m 49 and a half now.
I wanted to learn fiddle in 7th grade, but there was no internet in 1986-87 and no one in my tiny home town of Childress, TX to teach lessons. My daddy borrowed a fiddle for me from Robert Proctor, and I tried to learn on my own with a beginner book and fingerboard dotted with pink nail polish. I could pick out a couple of tunes…the intro to Garth’s Much Too Young and You’re Something Special to Me by King George, but after a few weeks, it just fizzled out with no real guidance. The fiddle went back to Mr. Proctor.
A few years ago, I found a fiddle on the Facebook marketplace for $20. I had it a couple of years, and Nick Worley (of Jason Boland and The Stragglers and formerly Cooder Graw) posted on his Facebook asking who wanted to take lessons. I 🙋🏼‍♀️. The next thing I knew I was taking lessons, and my friends from Cooder Graw were encouraging me to get a 4/4 fiddle! …because the one I bought was only 3/4. I started searching right away. I didn’t even know they came in different sizes! 🤷‍♀️
I found another fiddle on Facebook marketplace under $100. After some research, I learned and was able to confirm that it had been handmade by Reverend J. I. Mandrell in October of 1941. That is Irby Mandrell’s brother….Barbara Mandrell’s Uncle Ira! It’s BEAUTIFUL with its inlaid mother-of-pearl design and details! I fell in love with the story and look of it! I grew up watching Barbara Mandrell’s variety show and I can definitely relate to being “country when wasn’t cool!”
I cherish the unique fiddle and the time I’ve spent speaking with family members about it. Their encouragement is part of the reason I keep going! It would be easy to quit at this age, be discouraged and just pack it up. However, it’s not everyday that just anyone runs across a special instrument in such an unexpected way! Then get to keep it and use it to learn. I count it as a great blessing, and I am just brave enough to try it out….mistakes and all!!! What a privilege to carry!
Please enjoy the music (mistakes and all)! I have decided to continue playing for my own joy. It won’t be perfect or professional (not any time soon…and most likely maybe never). But you can count on me to have a great time making a spectacle out of myself! 😁

[@texasag]

Great job